All snakes are strict carnivores, which means they will only eat, and can only digest, animal flesh. There are no snakes which eat fruit, vegetables or other plant material. Corn Snakes got their name because A)farmers would often see them inside of barns where grains like corn was stored for livestock, because the snakes were there to eat the mice that came in to eat the grain, and B)their bellies have a pattern that reminds people of Indian corn, the sort you see at Thanksgiving used for decorations. Most captive snakes, including Corns, WILL eat pre-killed mice or other animals, so their food does not have to be alive, just fresh, or thawed-out frozen mice. Most snake keepers do not feed live animals to their snakes because of the risk that the prey animal might turn on the snake and seriously injure it. Rats and mice have actually been known to kill and EAT the snake, if the snake wasn't hungry and didn't kill them right away! Live animals can also carry diseases and as I've found out the hard way, can turn and bite the person who is trying to feed them to a snake, too, resulting in a trip to the emergency room for stitches and a Tetanus shot! I have over 50 snakes, and the only ones I have that eat live food are some of my Water Snakes, which eat live minnows, but all the rest eat mice or rats which I buy dead and frozen in plastic bags, and thaw up as I need them. Freezing kills parasites and diseases they might be carrying.
